


The Unfinished Song

by YFG



Category: NCT (Band), NCT 127 - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23908534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YFG/pseuds/YFG
Summary: “The Unfinished Song” is a work of fan fiction loosely based on selected members of the South Korean pop groups NCT 127 and EXO, with Lee Taeyong and Jeong Jaehyun serving as the lead characters. THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.SYNOPSIS: Two restaurant workmates find themselves falling in and out of love with each other – Lee Taeyong, a naive but hardworking chef; and Jeong Jaehyun, a charismatic waiter who is also musically talented.GENRE: romance, drama, angstRATING: pendingTOTAL WORD COUNT: pendingSOUNDTRACK:CLICK HEREAlso available onTumblrCONTENTS:* Chapter 1 (originally published on April 21, 2020) - 970 words* Chapter 2 (originally published on April 28, 2020) - 1,936 words*Chapter 3 - COMING SOONDISCLAIMER:All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.I am in no way affiliated with, or endorsed by, or sponsored by SM Entertainment, NCT 127, EXO, and all names that are/will be mentioned here. This is for entertainment purposes only, not for commercial use.All images belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. (Cover photo courtesy of VLIVE, edited by me)This literary piece only serves as an outlet for my emotions.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong
Kudos: 1





	1. "Stolen" - Dashboard Confessional

**Author's Note:**

>   
> 
> 
> “The Unfinished Song” is a work of fan fiction loosely based on selected members of the South Korean pop groups NCT 127 and EXO, with Lee Taeyong and Jeong Jaehyun serving as the lead characters. THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.
> 
> SYNOPSIS: Two restaurant workmates find themselves falling in and out of love with each other – Lee Taeyong, a naive but hardworking chef; and Jeong Jaehyun, a charismatic waiter who is also musically talented.
> 
> GENRE: romance, drama, angst
> 
> RATING: pending
> 
> TOTAL WORD COUNT: pending
> 
> SOUNDTRACK: [CLICK HERE](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bbq7CfVmN0eAxd61VNt46?si=76MPBNvxQEm3PV4ElvL-cw)
> 
> Also available on [Tumblr](https://theunfinishedsong-nct.tumblr.com/)
> 
> CONTENTS:  
> * Chapter 1 (originally published on April 21, 2020) - 970 words  
> * Chapter 2 (originally published on April 28, 2020) - 1,936 words  
> *Chapter 3 - COMING SOON
> 
> DISCLAIMER:  
> All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
> 
> I am in no way affiliated with, or endorsed by, or sponsored by SM Entertainment, NCT 127, EXO, and all names that are/will be mentioned here. This is for entertainment purposes only, not for commercial use.
> 
> All images belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. (Cover photo courtesy of VLIVE, edited by me)
> 
> This literary piece only serves as an outlet for my emotions.

“Kitchen, all out! No more pending orders!”

A sense of relief was felt within the four walls of our kitchen upon hearing those words.

“Lee Taeyong… Play your emo playlist!”

“I’m on it, _hyung_!”

I did not hesitate to grant the request of our sous chef, Doh Kyungsoo. He has spent five hours leading the closing shift tonight. He is in charge of calling, or rather, announcing all of the incoming orders, making sure that the line cooks are doing the correct sequencing, and of course, checking the quality of each food before finally dispatching it to the dining staff. He is five years older than me, but in terms of tenure, he is only almost a year ahead of me. He doesn’t mind me calling him “ _hyung_ ” since he doesn’t require me to call him “ _sunbaenim_ ”, at least, not yet.

As for me, I’m currently assigned to the pantry station until Sunday. I may be handling ready-to-eat food, but pantry duty is not a piece of cake, especially during the weekend. I’m responsible for preparing our appetizers, salads, and sandwiches – most of these have to be made upon order so they could be served fresh. And that also means I have to be ahead of the line cooks – they’re the ones responsible for the main courses. Of course, appetizers and salads need to be served and consumed first.

I quickly took off the vinyl gloves from both of my hands, soiled from the battle of tonight’s dinner rush – today is payday Friday, to be more specific. I approached the kitchen sink and disposed the oily gloves into the garbage bin underneath it. I made sure to wash my hands before taking my mobile phone out of the plastic drawer underneath Kyungsoo _hyung_ ’s worktop station – we are required to surrender our phones while we’re on duty. However, we have a small Bluetooth speaker where anyone is allowed to play any kind of music they like, as long as it’s not loud enough to be heard by the guests outside. So, with Kyungsoo _hyung_ ’s blessing, I excitedly opened my Spotify app to play my own, curated, old school pop punk playlist.

“Any request, hyung?”

“Nah, just put it on shuffle.”

I pressed “Shuffle Play” and “Stolen” by Dashboard Confessional came up.

I almost didn’t notice the time right before turning my screen off – it’s already 9:06 PM, and I realized that we only have less than an hour left before we have our last call.

The various sounds of our guests’ chitchatting echoed through the small window of the kitchen – also known as the barker and dispatch area, also known as Kyungsoo _hyung_ ’s station. Thumping sounds of footsteps on wooden floors became more dominant than the jazzy, ambient music of the dining area. Our café looks cozy and homey, like how you would imagine the interior of a countryside cottage from an old Disney fairytale. We’ve got some rustic-looking white patio chairs and tables, with fresh, vibrant flowers as the table centerpieces; pale yellow-white Christmas lights widely hung across the glass windows, for that festive effect; and there are several realistic-looking birds painted on the pastel yellow walls.

The night is still very much alive – Christmas time is almost around the corner, which means most people are already doing their Christmas shopping. For us kitchen workers, we don’t really get a lot of time to shop, despite being located within the heart of the busy _Myeong-dong_ shopping district – definitely impossible when you’ve been given the closing shift for the whole week.

We’ve just finished dispatching the orders of the latest table, and since our dining capacity is already full, most of our current guests are still in the middle of finishing their meals. However, I can already hear the next wave of incoming guests from here. Thankfully, they still have to be waitlisted, so we’ve got a few more minutes to clean up and take a breather.

“Good evening, Ma’am! Good evening, Sir!”

“…This way, please!”

“Welcome to Caffè di Maria!”

Our establishment is actually named after our owner – a Korean woman, surprisingly. Her real name is Lee Myeon-Ji, and she’s not your average _ahjumma_ – seven years ago, she adapted the English name Maria when she stayed in the United States to send her youngest and only daughter to culinary school, so they could develop their own recipes. She wanted to open a Western-inspired restaurant with a Korean touch, so _Caffè di Maria_ was born with the help of her businessman husband. They currently have a total of four restaurants operating within Seoul.

Most of our branches are quite far from each other, but there is still a chance for each employee to get deployed to a different branch from time to time. Sometimes, it’s for career growth.

I’m going to celebrate my second year in the company by the end of May next year. I was fresh out of culinary school when I got here. I was a bit clueless and a bit too immature back then – I was only twenty years old when I became a trainee. But I do believe I’ve slowly matured over the years – after all, I have to act more matured and wise, since it won’t be long until I become a kitchen coach once I reach my second year. I’d still be a _chef de partie_ , just like my current title – but here in our place, that’s a big step towards a promotion. Who knows, I might become a _sous chef_ by the end of next year, or by the start of the year after that. The idea of getting deployed to another branch kind of freaks me out, but I have my goals. Nothing’s wrong with that, right? I just need to focus on working hard as much as possible… Without any distractions.


	2. "We Could Happen" - AJ Rafael

__

_Friday, 9:16 PM_

Ten minutes have already passed since we finished the last docket of orders, which means the next and hopefully final wave of dine-in guests will begin shortly. I have just finished cleaning up my station – I have removed the scattered bread crumbs and lettuce trimmings from the counter tops; I have washed my two chopping boards (white for breads, green for fruits and veggies), three different knives, and the insert tray for our toaster, among others. I have also washed my kitchen towels with laundry detergent. It’s a good thing I was able to finish my tasks quickly, since there are four other cooks who need to share the two kitchen sinks among them. We could also ask our dishwasher, Taemin _hyung_ , to let us use the dishwashing machine. But when he’s too busy and loaded, we could just easily wash our stuff manually.

I took a moment to shake the stuck bread crumbs off my all-black chef’s uniform and apron, until I realized I haven’t drunk any amount of water in almost an hour, so I hurriedly grabbed my half-liter, violet water bottle from a shelf near the kitchen door as I went straight outside.

The relaxing aroma of freshly ground coffee beans being brewed by the barista-on-duty grew prevalent as I stepped closer to the bar area, which is also part of the main dining area. Only a wide, L-shaped counter serves as its “barricade” or “divider”. From here, I can see that most of the guests are still busy finishing their meals, while about ten people were still seated at the waiting area near the café entrance.

I took the aluminum ice scooper from a small, transparent plastic bucket beside the coffee machine, and then I bent over to the ice bin below. I poured a scoopful of ice into my wide-rimmed bottle, then I grabbed a pitcher of water to fill it almost up to the rim.

I could no longer wait to refresh my tired self, so I stood right on the spot, leaned my head backwards, closed my eyes, and gulped down a satisfying amount of my cold thirst quencher.

And as I opened my eyes, I was taken aback by what I just saw right before me.

I’ve never seen this one before, but _he_ was definitely a sight to behold.

_Damn, he is so good-looking._

My whole head was practically empty except for those few words. I found myself running out of better words to describe him as I felt my feet become frozen on the floor. For a moment, the whole environment basically became a grayish blur.

He stood about a meter away from me as he swiftly grabbed a couple of menus from the menu basket on the countertop. It took a while before it finally dawned on me that he is, in fact, an employee here. He then went towards the entrance and handed the menus over to the waiting guests.

His rich, dark hair was sleekly styled – it was brushed away from his forehead, save for a single lock hanging perfectly still right above his left eyebrow; his eyebrows looked rich as well. The apples of his cheeks were rosy pink even if he wasn’t wearing any hint of makeup… Except maybe for his glistening lips, which seemed like they had a very subtle tint of peachy-pink; I figured he must have used lip balm on them, since they looked so… _Juicy and delightful._

_Who knows what flavor he used? Cherry? Strawberry? Of course, I am interested._

I noticed he was wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves folded up to his forearms near the elbows – the color white being an indication that he is only a trainee. Regular dining employees wear light blue.

He had a name tag on, but he left too quickly before I got to even have a glimpse of what’s on it.

_And now there’s my excuse to “ask” the others about him._

I held a sneaky smirk on my face as I walked away from the bar area. I headed back to the kitchen until I suddenly got stopped –

“Taeyong- _ah_! Can you grab a bunch of teaspoons for me, please?” Kyungsoo _hyung_ called directly from the dispatch window. He needed to use the teaspoons as tasting spoons.

“Noted, _hyung_.”

This area right outside the kitchen – where Kyungsoo hyung can directly look out into – is the dining dispatch area. It connects the kitchen to the main dining area and bar area, but the guests do not get to have a peek into this area, since it is hidden by a wall. However, there are no doors here, just an opening, because it was made to be easily accessed by the dining staff – the bussing area, cutlery drawers, and condiment shelves are all here, and the office is in here as well.

I checked the cutlery drawers below the dispatch window – they are almost empty, save for some bread knives and appetizer spreaders.

The dining staff can also use this area to wipe cutleries that come fresh and hot from the dishwashing machine. They have to be wiped one by one with a clean towel to make sure they’re all free from any possible remaining food particles. When they do this, they use this gray, multi-compartment cutlery tray to organize the cutleries per type. Since it is portable, it does not have a permanent placement, so it could be here; it could also be in the bar area.

I turned around as I scanned the area to look for that cutlery tray.

It was not on top of the ice chest freezer.

It was nowhere to be found near the bussing area.

It was not even there on the counter top by the dispatch window.

_So maybe it’s in the bar area. I’ll just go there, no problem._

Just when I was about to approach the opening going to the bar area, the guy from a while ago suddenly walked straight towards the chest freezer, just right past me. He didn’t notice me at all. He seemed so busy… Well, of course he is.

_He was carrying the cutlery tray._

He placed it on top of the chest freezer, and then he turned towards the bussing area.

“Excuse me, _hyung_ … Do you still have more cutleries there?” He shyly asked Taemin _hyung_.

I peeked into the cutlery tray – there are several teaspoons in there… _Just what I needed_.

I started debating with myself – should I sneakily grab the teaspoons then run back into the kitchen?

I’m too scared and nervous to interact with him for now. What if he notices me?

Or should I stand with pride, walk with my chin up, and just confidently take the teaspoons? I am a senior employee here, after all.

Taemin _hyung_ took out a large stainless mixing bowl and placed it onto the surface of the bussing window.

The guy raised both his arms to take the bowl – they seemed heavy because it was full of cutleries. He then bowed towards Taemin _hyung_ and thanked him softly.

I instantly noticed how a few veins suddenly appeared on his forearms as he flexed them to carry the large bowl… And that’s not it.

Even his biceps peeked a bit through the sleeves of his white shirt.

I snapped out as I finally decided to run towards the cutlery tray to grab the teaspoons like they were some kind of a hidden treasure.

Of course, he was already on his way to this spot. But it will take him about ten steps, and I thought the weight of the bowl would slow him down just a bit.

And maybe it did.

I did not just run back – I _sprinted_ back into the kitchen. The teaspoons are still complete in my clenched left hand, while some droplets of water from my cold bottle seeped through the fingers on my right hand.

I peeked into the small window of the kitchen door - he has already placed the large bowl beside the cutlery tray. _I hope he didn’t notice me._

With a heavy sigh, I felt relieved that no one noticed what I just did. I’m almost breathless right now. It was such a simple task, yet I made it unnecessarily complicated.

I returned my water bottle back to its respective spot on the shelf. I proceeded to walk towards Kyungsoo _hyung_ , and I dropped the handful of teaspoons into the clean 1/9 insert pan in front of him. I then took a deep breath…

"The new guy, _hyung_... Who is he?" I asked Kyungsoo hyung.

He made some kind of an evil smirk on his face. He gave me a quick glare, then he leaned his head towards the dispatch window.

"Jaehyun- _ah_! Come here!”

The guy didn’t even hesitate to pause his task for this moment – he immediately went to the front of the dispatch window.

“You haven't been introduced to each other, right? You haven't met him, right?”

I wanted to grab Kyungsoo _hyung_ by the arm, and drag him away from here. Now.

“Jeong Jaehyun, meet one of our senior chefs, Lee Taeyong!"

Wait.

What?

Whoa.

That was too fast.

Fast yet _smooth_.

The guy bowed down, then he stretched his right hand out to me while leaning close to the dispatch window.

"Ugh, wait. This is embarrassing. My hand is still wet." I hurriedly pulled a sheet of paper towel from the nearby dispenser. Both of my hands are now shaking subtly as I wiped my right hand. I must have certainly looked stupid.

I then bowed back, grabbed his hand and gave him an awkward handshake.

"Hi, I'm Taeyong. Nice to meet you... Jaehyun?" I said to him as I flashed an even more awkward smile.

" _Nice one, hyung..."_ I thought.

"Hey, someone's got really soft hands," he looked at Kyungsoo _hyung_ and my other co-workers with his sparkly eyes. I almost didn’t notice that we’re being watched by my colleagues, almost like a K-drama scene unfolding before their eyes.

This dude has the audacity to show off his annoyingly adorable smile on his face. He even has not one, but TWO dimples, streaming down on both his cheeks. And he’s totally flexing them at me right now. He's just really cool about our meeting, and I’ve never felt this dumb before.

And it’s been eight seconds – we still haven’t let go of each other. Eight. Freaking. Long. Seconds.

He’s not letting go of my hand, and I’m not letting go of his. _Who is gonna be the one?_

I was left frozen, staring blankly at Kyungsoo _hyung_.

Then I finally thought it was time to let go before my face turns into a tomato.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," I said, as if I was too busy. Well, I was not too busy, but I know he definitely is. We haven’t received any new orders in the kitchen, so I’m still good for a while.

“Alright, see you later,” he replied; he was still showing off his dimples. He then turned towards Kyungsoo _hyung_ – “please excuse me, _sunbaenim_. I have to go back outside,” and bowed yet again.

Kyungsoo _hyung_ fixed his eyes on me, and gave me that evil look again. I pouted at him as I showed my sad puppy eyes.

"H _yung_ , I feel so embarrassed," I whispered, but he just deliberately ignored me. 

Jaehyun was not yet out of our sight when my mischievous _hyung_ loudly blurted out something that made me want to completely disappear from this planet right now.

"Ah, Taeyong likes Jaehyun!" 


End file.
